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voip.ms is a geek's dream. Not only is it one of the cheapest, but they also give you a bewildering number of options and customizations to choose from including call queues, ring groups (ring more than one phone at the same time), IVRs, blocking, etc, etc. They expose the power of Asterisk PBX and give that power to their customers while hiding the difficult bits. One of the most important things they do is let you connect as many devices as you want. My old provider wouldn't allow this. Followup comments:
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We still have a landline phone line but only because our internet connection is DSL. It has no other use for us, not with a voip provider like Voip.MS available. THE GOOD POINTS: *Excellent reliability, an unbeatable track record. The rare outages fixed quickly and always with an explanation. They have very good communication with the public. *Excellent customer support! Any questions or problems I have had have been addressed quickly and to the point. *Easy peering to Sipbroker via *8570 for incoming. Outgoing is via a simple dialplan addition. *BYOD: Just about any type of device will work. Several specific examples which include your own userid information - the website personalizes the sample down to the level of the individual! *Their website and control panel is the fastest, most efficient I have seen. You can jump from one area to another in record time because of the way the website is laid out. *Outstanding Call Handling ** IVR (Interactive Voice Response) This is where the caller hears a voice menu, inviting him to press 1 to go here, press 2 to go there, etc. Voip.MS is the only residential provider I know of that has this. It is hard to describe just how convenient this is; you have to use it to appreciate it, but here are a few examples of the way I use it: *** Several relatives, scattered over North America, call a Voip.MS DID (telephone number) that is local to them. They hear a recording I made instructing them to "press 1 to call mary, press 2 to call Joe.... press 3 for an international dial tone... press 7 to ring through to Bob (that's me)... press 8 to leave a voicemail message to Bob...press 99 to hear this message agiain" Setting this up was very easy for me, and I am not technically inclined. If I could get the relatives to use ATAs, I could set up 'sub-accounts' and they could call each other, or get an international dial tone, simply by entering an extension on their phones, doing away with a need for DIDs. But for people without a broadband connection, or an ATA, cheap Voip.MS DIDs do the trick. And an IVR can send calls to another IVR. You can guide the caller in almost any way needed. * Caller ID filtering. This allows you to check the caller id number of an incoming call and send the call to various destinations: Ring the phone Ring the phone, but only at certain hours Send it to an IVR for further processing Send it to voicemail Hang up Send it to 300@blueface.ie and greet the caller with monkey sounds etc., etc. If the caller id is 'anonymous' or 'unknown', you can do any of the above, or you can, for example, use an IVR to request that the caller enter his number. If it is a number you want to hear from, you can ring through, or take whatever 'friendly' action you want, or you can send it to voicemail, etc. For people I am doing business with, I assign an 'extension' which allows them to ring through during the day. I can change the extension when and as needed. So, I give the person I am doing business with my number: 222-333-4444 Ext.999. It is obvious from this, that you can put an end, once and for all, to telemarketers and crank calls, simply whitelisting people you want to hear from, and sending others to voicemail, etc. I have not had one unwanted call since using Voip.MS. *Personalized outgoing Caller id. Simply change it on the control panel. *Low cost, yet top-notch in quality, DIDs and calling and incoming rates. 1/2 cent per minute to most Canadian destinations. 1 cent per minute incoming rates. $1 per month for a DID. THE BAD POINTS: I have found none. Really. Followup comments:
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But the quality provider that you get at the low price, its worth the time to educate yourself on proper configuration. I have had some issues, but a lot have been resolved by the tweaking support I get from the VOIP forum room. Voip.ms will not do that for you. I registered with them Aug 2008 and it took about 9 weeks to port, but those issues are long past. Followup comments:
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Not much to add. Voip.ms just works. I'll say a word for their IVR. I use it to greet callers with a voice menu. I whitelist callers I want to hear from anytime and when they call the phone rings. Everyone else gets the voice menu. They can enter an extension I gave them to ring the phone, or they can leave a message. A perfect way to separate family and friends, business contacts, telemarketers and cranks. [/update] Sometimes you run across a service that is so good you wonder how they can do it at twice the price. That's the feeling I have about Voip.ms. The sound is as good, if not better, than a landline. There is no echo, crackling, fading, just a clear voice no matter how long the conversation. The set of features is stellar and immensely useful. Those guys at Voip.ms must work 24 hours a day to pack in all the features the service has, and features that work smoothly. After seeing the gbu, »/gbu, and seeing callcentric on top, callwithus second, I had to put in my two cents, since the gbu is obviously worthless, in my opinion of course. You can see what features Voip.ms has by reading other laudatory reviews here, and all I could do is repeat them. So I will just suggest to you that you ignore the gbu and try Voip.ms for yourself. You will not regret it. Followup comments:
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Update November 11, 2009 It's like having a pots connection all over the world, for peanuts, with dazzling features that would cost me a fortune with pots. They now allow a free sip url if you have a DID with them. I'm glad to see this, not so much because it is free, but because it illustrates again that they charge rationally for their services. They are an honest, up-front company. ++++ Update October 18 2009 Voip.ms continues to provide reliable, great-sounding service. I switched from the Premium rate to the Value rate because the Value rate sounds so good, and I get consistently good reports of how it sounds on the other end. The cost of DIDs is as low as I have found, and the per-minute rates are as cheap as anybody, at least within a fraction of a cent. I am still bowled over that a voip company offering so many features can do it so cheaply and so well. When the additions that are under testing, let alone under consideration, are put into place, Voip.ms will be in a class by itself, if it isn't already. I tend to agree with what has been mentioned before about Voip.ms, that they charge what they have to charge to make a profit, and are not running the company as a loss-leader. For example, their Premium rate to Alaska is 18 cents. They could probably charge a small amount, as some others do, and take it as a loss leader to get a few more customers, but they do not. And they charge one-tenth of a cent per minute for calls coming in to a sip url, while most other voip providers charge nothing and take it as a loss leader. I actually like these charges as evidence that Voip.ms is in it for the long run. They will not disappear because they find themselves in debt - they make a profit by being efficient. ++++ Update August 25 2009 Something I forgot to mention earlier is that Voip.ms peers with sipbroker via the *8570 code. I have no problem connecting using it. This service just keeps getting better and better. If you are wondering which voip provider to go with, look no further. ++++ Update August 18 2009 Voip.ms just keeps rolling along - no problems, excellent sound, unrivalled call routing, cheaper than vosps that don't have half their features. At this point, I am letting my accounts with other vosps go to zero dollars, and do not expect to have to use them. ++++ Update July 12 2009 voip.ms has added wildcards to the caller id filter list. A very useful addition since some caller ids are prefixed with the country code and some are not. I don't know of a way to predict which it will be. Now I can specify *2223334444 which covers both 2223334444 and 12223334444. voip.ms is, so far, reliable, with very good sound, and with unmatched call routing capabilities. I give a lot of weight to the last, and if you don't care who can get through to you, your choices increase a fair amount. If you do care, they may be the best choice. One other thing: with this said, they are one of the cheaper outfits around: Some US DIDs are $1.00 per month, and 1 cent per minute. ++++ Update June 17 2009 The flexibility of their call routing is outstanding. For example, I can assign an extension to people that need to contact me for business reasons, and route it so that the phone will ring only during business hours and on weekdays, with the call going to voicemail at other times. If I want to put in speed dial numbers, I assign an extension to my did that only I know, and if I dial the DID and enter the extension, I am sent to a second ivr that routes the call to various phone numbers or sip urls, depending on the speed dial value I input. For example *01 calls Joe's pstn number, *02 calls a sip url, etc. ++++ Update June 07 2009 Reports of audio on calls I make have been excellent. Incoming calls sound good to excellent. They are sometimes equal to a good landline call, sometimes a bit variable; but are as good as, or better, than the half dozen other voip providers I have tried. These are Premium routes. I made several suggestions or reports of small problems to support, via email, and was answered within hours on every occasion; once even on Sunday. Routing of calls through their amazingly flexible call-handling routines is working without a problem: relatives and friends who are whitelisted ring through in a transparent way. DTMF tones almost always work without a hitch; Voicemail as a failover or alternate routing always works. I understand that they are testing the use of wildcards in the caller id filtering and that they plan to put in a calling card service. This is evidence that they are not resting on their laurels and is a another sign that this excellent service will continue. ++++ It is easy to set up a basic service. If you want bells and whistles, they are there in abundance for the price of a little effort, and provide outstanding flexibility. It is this as much as anything that makes voip.ms jump in front of the pack. For example, I can specify filtering by callerid, letting family and friends ring through. Other callers can be sent to an ivr which gives them the opportunity to enter an extension to ring through, or to go to voicemail. This is pretty much a foolproof way to keep out cranks and telemarketers, which, I have noticed, have begun to creep into voip. I don't know of any other voip service that allows for this sort of foolproof whitelisting. Additionally, time conditions can be added, sending the caller here or there depending on the time of day and/or the day. The ivr can also be used to allow one DID to go to different destinations, and this can be set up using voice prompts or automatically using the callerid processing. Support has been quick to respond, and generally good. Rates are low to very low, depending on whether you choose 'premium' or 'value'. Sound is at least good (I will need to use this more to get a feel for how good, and how it varies between the premium and value routes). An excellent value for the money. Followup comments:
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The website is very easy to navigate and I think the fact that you can have subaccounts could prove very beneficial and the reports that can be pulled are very comprehensive. It appears they are able to appeal to the business community as well as the the home user. They have two levels of quality -- Premium and a value. The premium quality of service is crystal clear -- the value has a great savings attached to it if you are willing to sacrifice your quality -- it still wasn't all that bad (similar to a Skype conversation) They take Paypal (verified) and Mastercard/Visa -- however it would be nice if they had an automatic payment system once your account got below a certain threshold. They have excellent configuration examples on their system to show you exactly how to set up your system -- and even shows how to make it work with other companies such as Voxalot.com! Voicemail can be made as complex as you like, with multiple mailboxes which is a bonus. In summary - The sign up process from some countries can be delayed, this is to protect them from fraud -- which keeps our prices low. If you are in a fraudulent country, be prepared to wait a day or two for a response from support. It's one of those things that's definitely worth waiting for -- the quality is great and the prices can't be beaten. This is one of those "up and coming" in the voip market! UPDATE: Tech support definitely needs an overhaul, so I've lowered my rating in that area. I've sent an email regarding an issue 3 or 4 days ago, and have not heard anything back. The quality is still top notch, prices can't be beat -- but this area is lacking. For me, it's not a major issue and I'm sticking with them -- but if you are a person who regularly uses tech support and relies heavily on them, then you may want to consider callcentric who seem to really have their customer support system in place. UPDATE: (Feb 6/09) - One week and no response from technical support. Service is still great and cheap, but waiting for reply from support is far too long! UPDATE: (Feb 23/09) -- Over three weeks without a response from customer support to both tickets. Apparently they had a problem with their customer support client software or something and are getting back to all their customers. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting -- good thing they weren't serious issues -- perhaps they are dealing with the serious issues first in their backlog. UPDATE: (April 20/09) -- I've started having problems where I call out and I get an automated message, "You account has been suspended". The first time it happened, support emailed back and said it's NOT suspended. After a day or so, they found the problem to be "in the routing". I mentioned that I still have unanswered tickets, but no response as to that. Now again, I'm having the same message "Account suspended" -- I emailed them -- no response, but began working again... As soon as my credits are done, I think I'll be moving on. When I do connect, the call quality is great -- I would NEVER RECOMMEND THESE AS YOUR PRIMARY PROVIDER! UPDATE: (June 15/09) -- Still problems with "Account suspended" every so often. Got an email from support immediately this time informing me they are looking into it. Seems they are responding now, I just hope they can fix it. I'm really starting to enjoy some of their features. UPDATE: (July 9/09) -- Still problems with "Account Suspended" on outgoing calls. Notified them again, and they said they are still looking into it. Apparently has to do with caller id... Going 3 months on this problem! UPDATE: (July 10/09) -- Quick response from tech support. They don't know what's wrong other than it's something with caller id and the carrier I'm contacting. It's something they won't be investigating further. UPDATE: (Oct 02/09) -- It looks as though my outgoing calls may be solved! Calls are going through now with their new carrier! YAY! Even got an email from them advising of the new changes. Also on their site they've really upgraded their support structure and they're back on my "impressed" list. Followup comments:
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I found VoIP.ms when I started to read the Voip Tech Chat. For some years I have been using another good US provider as my primary provider but as the sound quality on outbound calls to European destinations has been poor I was looking for another provider for European destinations. It was the Premium routing which made me to sign up with VoIP.ms. The sound quality on outbound calls to European PSTN destinations is excellent, so good it is actually better than using a POTS phone. Compared to the best VoIP provider in Denmark the sound quality on outbound calls to European destinations with VoIP.ms is a lot better. For me the sound quality is the most important thing when making the decision which provider to use. Sadly too many providers are only competing on lowest price possible instead of the sound quality. I do not want lower sound quality just to save a half of a cent per minute. That is the reason I only use Premium routing with VoIP.ms. As I only use Premium routing I can't say anything how the Value routing is. Inbound sound quality is very good but outbound sound quality is a lot better. Due to the good sound quality, server in Europe and the many features I now use VoIP.ms as my primary provider. The live chat support is a feature I think all VoIP providers should use. The UK server has had problems a few times and I used the live chat support to report the problem. It was a pleasure to use the live chat support and the staff on duty fixed the problem within a few minutes. I have used the ticket support system only once for a minor request and it took 76 minutes for my request to be handled. I think that was fast considering my request was very minor. My experience with support has been very good. However I have never asked the support how to configure a device so I have no experience how VoIP.ms handle such support cases. VoIP.ms has many valuable features, sub accounts and ring groups are features I can't be without now. I have been using VoIP.ms for only 4 months but that is enough to recommend VoIP.ms for European voip users. IMO VoIP.ms is the best voip provider in Europe and I believe they will have success in Europe. I know 4 months is a short time for a review but so far I have only good things to say about VoIP.ms. However I have a feeling that my experience with VoIP.ms will be good also in the future. Followup comments:
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They have a variety of inbound (DID) services, and outbound (termination) services, at good rates. The selection of DID numbers is quite good, and this is especially true for those looking for toll-free numbers. I previously had no problems with inbound or outbound service. However, in late 2008 and early 2009, there were some problems with dropped outbound calls. Other customers also reported this. As of April/May 2009 things seemed to be much smoother, but as of October 2009 I am again seeing some outbound calls not going through despite having no problems with my other VoIP providers. Likewise, some customers had reported slow responses from support. However, Voip.MS appears to be beefing up this area too. They have live chat and recently introduced a ticket system too. Recently Voip.MS has been offering many new calling features such as IVR and simulring. Combined with its value pricing, it will be an attractive choice for many customers. ADDENDUM: Although VoIP.MS has many nice features, some that they lack (that are available elsewhere) include: Free inbound CNAM with customizable entries. Speed-dialing including free SIP URI speed dial calling. *67 and *69 features at their end, not just on customer ATA level. Better SipBroker access for free calling. Free iNum calling and iNum numbers. Calling Cards. Followup comments:
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Promise of cheaper service and small monthly charge was a good recommendation for it. Voip.ms allows you to see the full 10 digit number rather than NPA/NPX before you buy the DID. Voice quality is ok. CNAM -(incoming)- is charged for each call - though you can disable it Outgoing CNAM -- to fix it you have pay $10 per (not mentioned with DID purchase) Otherwise your calls will show up with strange CNAME though you are paying for that Number Not having a CNAM is ok -- but think what would happen when you call into a conf. call with and porn-star's name pop's up with your # ! --- and you don't even know what it's going on. This not very nice -- but probably is same with all cheap VOIP providers. Customer service is subpar -- but functional Followup comments:
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I had previously used Speakeasy voip, but you need to have at least Speakeasy DSL to use their voip service. I tried CallCentric, while their support was awesome, I was having weird call quality issues, so I decided to try another provider. I had setup Teliax at my mother's house, they were rock solid, tech support was good. After reading other reviews and posts in the voip forum, I decided to try voip.ms. I've been using them for a few months now without any annoying call quality issues as I had with Call Centric. Their service has been rock solid for me. I have 2 local dids with them, one for my Trixbox, and the other for my pap2 attached to my fax machine. I don't know if it is the fios or not, but my fax reliability has been superb. I can fire off a 10 page G3 fax without failure. I also have 2 toll free #s, one is assigned to the pbx, and the other routes to the pap2. One of the requirements of a voip provider was that they provide the ability to support outgoing cnam, whether for free, or for a fee. Their one-time fee for US DIDs is $10 Voip.ms supports outgoing cnam on 99.5% of Canadian DIDs, and many US ratecenters. The reason I gave voip.ms a lower support rating is that I was promised on numerous occasions that I would receive an answer via email by the end of the day about whether or not outgoing cnam was supported on the ratecenter that I am using. I don't know if their support is horrible, or they were awaiting a response from their vendor. Either way, it is NEVER a good idea to over promise and under deliver. I always under promise and over deliver. Good customer service is about properly managing the customer's expectations. Followup comments:
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voip.ms
(13)
Indianapolis,Marion,IN
$3 per month
"Unbelievable number of customizations and options available to a geek"
"Too difficult for a newbie? (but I don't want them to dumb it down)"
"Excellent and inexpensive provider - loads of features"
Dial tone through IVR
about 70 days
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